Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I have been wanting and waiting to replace the fans in my living room and kitchen since the day we moved in our house almost 2 1/2 years ago. The living room is long and has had 2 ceiling fans. The delimma I faced was do I put 1 large light in the middle or 2 lights back in the place of the fans? I really didn't want fans again and didn't want huge flush mounts either. So I was in Lowe's the other night for the 1,000th time and nothing I saw really "struck my fancy" if you know what I mean, so I walked out empty handed yet again. The next day I was in Goodwill and walked back to the house ware section and low and behold there were 2 matching chandeliers just sitting there waiting for me! I looked for a price and you wont believe this, $30 for both!!! What are the odds?!?!?! I couldn't believe it, just the night before I was ready to buy something in Lowe's and would have spent at least twice that much on 1 light. With chandeliers in hand I thanked the Lord for that blessing all the way to my car!! The next day I was in the Habitat Store and found another light for my kitchen, $5!!

{my new chandeliers}

The only problem with this light for the kitchen was that I had just bought one off of Craigslist about a month ago and J had painted (it was originally green) and hung it up already. I was a little reluctant when he brought the first light home because it was larger and more ornate than it looked in the Craigslist picture. I knew he would not want to re-hang another light in the kitchen and 2 new ones in the living room, but with a little convincing that this new $5 light would fit the space and our style much better, my ever so sweet husband hung yet another light. Love him :)

{Craigslist chandelier $20-originally replaced kitchen fan}

Keep this Craigslist chandelier in mind, I'll tell you more about it in a minute. So below is the new kitchen chandelier and the living room chandeliers. I debated on painting them or not but in the end decided they would look better with everything else in my house if they were black. Especially the kitchen light, it's finish wasn't in the best shape, but nothing a can of spray paint couldn't fix! Gotta love spray paint!

{new $5 Habitat Store kitchen chandelier}

Now that I look at this picture I see how badly my ceiling needs to be re-painted and yes I will be taking the plastic off of the shades ;)

{2 new $30 Goodwill chandeliers}

One last thing; the Craigslist chandelier I showed you earlier, Kerri and I did another swap so check back to see what I traded for and what she does with her new chandelier!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Saturday was vey nice outside and almost 60 deg., so we took the kids to the park. When we got there I think everyone in the county had the same idea. None the less we had fun!!

They loved to slide and swing!!

She was climbing the pole thingy; can you see the nervousness in her face??

Then today, Sunday, we had two awesome church services. J and both said on the way home how blessed and spoiled we are wth God's mercy. I never want to get so busy with everyday life we forget where God has brought us from and all he has kept us from. Ephesians 2:3-5 says "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)." I am thankful for "But God"!!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Sadly I don't have a before pic of this bathroom, but it was not pretty, trust me. We got a new sink & cabinet on clearance as a floor model at Home Depot for about $70. J did some work on Jacob and Kerri's yard and they traded us a pedistal sink (in another bathroom) and we used the faucet off of it. We laid new floor and painted the top half of the walls, then the biggest part of it was done.

On to the fun part, decorating! Even though this is the kids bathroom I wanted something not too "kiddish" since it is also the guest bathroom. I have had this green and cream shower curtain for several years and that is what I started with. I found this carnival print fabric at Hobby Lobby and loved it. It is gender neutral enough for Reagan and Mason and doesn't scream rubber ducky (I really dont have anything against ducks, just not the look I was going for). All I did was sew the carnival print fabric with the pom pom trim to the bottom of the shower curtain. By adding length to the shower curtain, I was able to raise it almost to the ceiling, which makes the bathroom look SO much bigger; try it you will be surprised. I also already had most of the accessories; picture frame, wire basket with tissue paper and books, shelf and the canisters. The only accessories I bought were the "R" and "M" towel hooks, which of course came from Hobby Lobby. My advise; spice up what you have, bargain and barter for what you don't!

Monday, January 18, 2010

I was looking for a dresser to put beside my front door for a few weeks and walked in Goodwill the other day and low and behold there it was (not sure why I was surprised, I always find great stuff there). I quickly went to the counter to pay so they would hold it for me. The price sticker said $30, but guess what, it was 1/2 off weekend. Yes, I got this for $15. As the Nester would say, "hate me". I painted it the creamy white that I painted my bookcase (earlier post) and painted the handles with oil rubbed bronze spray paint. Now that I have bragged about what a deal I got, I need some suggestions with the picture frames. I was thinking creamy white with black matts. What do you think???

Ok, so I finally did paint those picture frames and put some pictures in them.....I know you'll sleep better tonight knowing that! ;)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

We have a large built in bookcase in our living room. It has been black for the last couple of years, not cause I loved it black, cause I dreaded to paint it something else. So the other night I got motivated and started painting. Several coats of paint later and me saying, "oh my word, I can still see black, I hate this thing", it is now a creamy white. It looks soooo much better. That end of the living room is not as "heavy" looking anymore. Notice in the after pic the frames are painted and actually have photos in them!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

We have a table in our kitchen that seats four. I wanted a centerpiece that was not too large or extravagant and that would be semi-childproof. I found this plate at TJMaxx for $2. Not sure what I would do with it at the time, but you can't pass up $2. I already had the candle sticks which came from Goodwill, think I paid $3 for both. Added a few neutral candles and some acorns and greenery from my yard (free, love that!) and I was done!

Now ya see that table runner under the centerpiece, made that too. I wanted to add a little pop of red to the blues and green so, I cut the red S's off of an old runner and hot glued them right on (gotta love hot glue).

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Kerri and I were both ready for some new stuff a few months ago so we got to talking about what we wanted and ended up having a mini-swap-meet. We traded rugs and I traded her a chair for a dresser. The dresser had 3 drawers that we took out and made shelves for all of our TV stuff. I painted it this blue color before I bought my new couches, so needless to say I will be repainting it.....I also want to put some fabric inside kinda like a valance to cover the top two shelves so I dont have to look at the TV stuff all of the time. I will let ya know when I get all of this accomplished.....meanwhile, take a look at Kerri's blog http://averyblessednest.blogspot.com/to see what she got from the mini-swap-meet.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Today is Reagans 5th Birthday!!! It's hard to belive she is 5 already!!! Since Mason's birthday is Friday, we are going to have one big party for them both on Saturday. We wanted Reagan to feel special on her actual birthday so we let her decide what to do for the evening. First we went to Sweet Celebrations and had ice cream, then we went to Chic Fil A for dinner, you can do that on your birthday.....lol....

You can see my new chalkboard in the top picture and the picture below. We are changing out the flat doors in the house to panel doors so we have a few of these in the garage. I needed something large to put on that big brick wall in the kitchen so I painted one of the doors with chalkboard paint. J hung the door on the wall and then put the trim (baseboard) around it. Simple and cheap!

About Me

I am a southern, Jesus lovin' girl who's blessed with a handsome, hard workin' hubby and 2 red-headed cuties, simply living life more abundantly. Here you will see a glimpse into our home and everyday lives.